University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

University of South Asia

47 Tufail Rd, Cantt, Lahore.

Final Project

Course: Introduction to Psychology

Submitted to: Mr. Farrukh Malik
Submitted by: Mirza Adil
Roll no.: B-21621

Mirza Adil B-21621

University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

Contents
Consumers’ Buying Decision........................................................................................................................1
Thinking...................................................................................................................................................1
Need Recognition:...............................................................................................................................1
Information Search:.............................................................................................................................1
Product Evaluation:.............................................................................................................................1
Product Choice and Purchase:.............................................................................................................1
Post purchase Use and Evaluation:......................................................................................................1
Disposal of the Product:......................................................................................................................1
Situational Buying....................................................................................................................................2
The Consumer’s Physical Situation......................................................................................................2
The Consumer’s Time Situation...........................................................................................................2
The Reason for the Consumer’s Purchase...........................................................................................3
The Consumer’s Mood.........................................................................................................................3
Neuroscience of Consumer Choice..........................................................................................................3
Senses in Consumer Decisions.................................................................................................................4
Smell....................................................................................................................................................4
Vision...................................................................................................................................................4
Hearing................................................................................................................................................5
Taste....................................................................................................................................................5
Touch...................................................................................................................................................5
Personality and Consumer Decision Process...........................................................................................6
Perception...........................................................................................................................................6
Motivation...........................................................................................................................................6
Learning...............................................................................................................................................6
Attitude................................................................................................................................................7
Lifestyle...............................................................................................................................................7
References...............................................................................................................................................8

Mirza Adil B-21621

University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

Consumers’ Buying Decision

Thinking
Over the years, people build a systematic approach that they choose among other alternatives, even if
they were not aware of what they are demanding. In their childhood, children ask what toy they want or
what cereals they want to eat. It means that people have purchasing power from the day when they
were infants. Same procedure is followed by all other consumers. Different people, no matter how
similar they are, make different purchasing decisions. Everyone has its own choice and decisions to buy
some specific product. Marketing experts understand this scenario and they figure out trends among
consumers and advertise specific products to specific target.

For this purpose, marketers divided the different stages of buying into different processes. At every time
of life people are probably in some sort of buying stage. They think of different items which they want to
buy, from where to get and what will be prices. So, analyzing all types researchers find out there are 6
stages of buying, defined below:

Need Recognition: In this stage people plan according to their need towards the thing. For instance, a
student is in need of a laptop and planning to buy a laptop. Marketers often try to inspire consumers
into realizing they have a necessity for a product.

Information Search: After that, product is searched and all the possible and impossible aspects are
analyzed by the consumer. Like we talked about student want to buy laptop maybe he has already a
laptop but its old. So, he will gather information from various sources. Frequently people ask friends,

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University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

family, and neighbors about their experiences with products. Along that, now a days internet ease us by
providing every information.

Product Evaluation: So, after searching product is being evaluate. As there are hundreds of different
laptops available to choose from. It’s not possible for someone to examine all of them. Therefore,
people develop what’s called evaluative criteria to help narrow down their choices.

Product Choice and Purchase: At that stage, that student has to decide which laptop to purchase.
However, in addition, he is probably also making other decisions at this stage, including where and how
to purchase the laptop and on what terms and prices best among all others.

Post purchase Use and Evaluation: It means that what people buy is that thing they were searching,
they have to evaluate either the product is useful and good or not. At this point in the process, people
decide whether the product purchased is everything it was cracked up to be. Companies do numerous
things to try to avoid buyer’s remorse.

Disposal of the Product: There was a time when neither manufacturers nor consumers thought much
about how products got disposed of, so long as people bought them. But that’s changed. How products
are being disposed is becoming extremely important to consumers and society in general.

Then there are types of buying which consumer usually thinks including Low-Involvement and High-
Involvement buying decisions. Consumers don’t necessarily go through all the buying stages when
they’re considering purchasing product. Desire buying brings up a concept called level of involvement,
that is, how personally important or interested in consuming a product. Consumer might see a cold
drink when it is completely hot or hungry and wants to get a sandwich, these are low-engagement
products. Low-cost products are less expensive and pose a lower risk to the consumer if he/she makes a
mistake by buying them. In contrast, high-involvement products pose a significant risk to consumers if
they fail or have high price tags. Car, house, and insurance are examples. These items are not often
purchased. Buyers don’t involve in routine retort behavior when purchasing high-involvement products.

Situational Buying
Circumstances are temporary situations that affect the way consumers behave, whether they actually
buy your product, buy additional products, or buy nothing from you. It includes things like material,
social factors, time factors, reason for the buyer’s purchase, and consumer spirit.

The Consumer’s Physical Situation

Marketing professionals take the material into account such as the design of the store and its placement
when designing their facilities. The longer consumer travel around the center, the more likely they are
to spend more. Grocery stores often place bread and milk products in different edges of stores because
people often need both types of products. To buy both, they have to go around the whole store, which
is true to be loaded with other things they can see and buy.

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University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

Physical factors like the ones over which firms have control are called atmospherics. In addition to the
storage areas, it includes store music, lighting, temperature, and the scent consumer encounter. Maybe
a consumer visited a mall and found it pleasant to stay in and even smelled very nice. It's not a
coincidence, as managers look after all these things regularly. Research shows that strategies cause
consumers to stay in stores longer, buy more, and leave a better view of the quality of store services and
products.

The Consumer’s Time Situation

The time of day, the time of year, and how much time consumers feel like they have to shop also affects
what they buy. Researchers have also found that there are types of consumers according to buying
which affects shopping methods. Seven-Eleven Japan is a company that specializes in physical features
such as time and how it affects consumers. The company's sales plans are based on what sells best and
when, and stores are redesigned with those items. The goal is to find products on the shelves where
consumers want them and when. Even some consumers have less time so if they will not find what they
are searching, they will leave specific product.

The Reason for the Consumer’s Purchase

The reason for purchase also affects the time spend on the purchase by consumer. In recent years,
emergency clinics have sprung up in shopping malls across the country. Simplicity is one of the reasons.
There is a great need for more. If someone cut himself and bleed badly, he probably won't buy much to
find the best clinic he can go to. He will go to the one closest one. What about buying a gift? Buying a gift
may not be an emergency, but consumer may not want to spend a lot of time on it. Gift certificates have
been a popular way to buy for years, but now consumers can buy them from corner store. All these
eases consumers to buy from nearest point and no need to rush towards malls.

The Consumer’s Mood

People's attitudes temporarily affect their spending patterns. Some people enjoy shopping. It's fun for
them. In excess there are people who overspend who are temporarily “high” in spending. A sour mood
can ruin a consumer’s desire to buy. The collapse of the U.S. stock market in 2008 left many people
feeling poorer, leading to a sharp decline in consumer spending.

Neuroscience of Consumer Choice

In recent years, researchers working in a various field including psychology, neuroscience, and
marketing, have sought to systematically examine neurobiological mechanisms that support consumer
preferences and choices processes. These findings have been reviewed at different journals from
neuroscience and consumer research theories, including how pricing, branding, and advertising affect
consumer choice, as well as attempts of marketers in this neural understanding to improving accuracy of
market-level forecasting based on existing techniques.

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University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

Researcher have learned a great deal about the cost of brain weight and the benefits associated with
obtaining goods to liking, and how they respond to such things as the delays associated with the arrival
of goods and the uncertainty that these goods arrive. An important part of this effort has been the use
of effective neuroimaging techniques in a simple but dynamic framework in which people make
decisions by testing and maximizing the subjective value associated with a competitive approach.
However, it is still a challenge for this information to provide a mechanical account for simple actions
like buying breakfast cereals.

This reflects the natural limit of standard decision-making models, which imposes strong conditions on
preferences ordering and provides little insight of the actual preferences content or how it is organized
at the neural level. A set of questions related to the complex communication of attention, memory, and
measurement processes in consumer selection. Mostly, consumer options are made in situations where
the consumer relies in important ways on memory or search, conclusions based on studies.

The study of behaviors related to the choice, purchase, and use of goods and services have long
attracted diverse collection of ideas and techniques, including those from psychology, economics,
marketing, and increasingly, neuroscience. Research on consumer neuroscience of consumer choice
therefore has great promise to inform and clarify not only consumer performance, but to advance
general neuroscience that can ultimately lead to interventions to address problematic outcomes.

Senses in Consumer Decisions

We all have five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Our eyes detect light and our ears pick
up sound waves. Our skin nerves are sensitive, pressurized, hot and cold. Our tongue responds to the
food molecules we eat, and our noses detect odors in the air. When two or more nerves are constantly

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University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

in appeal, they amplify each other. When this is done via subtle messaging in marketing, consumers are
more likely to retain information about the brand. That’s why brands spend so much time and money on
determining what types of sensory cues best combine to create an  effective, positive message.

Decision making refers to making choices among alternative paths, which may also include quick
response. Decisions are made by the five senses we have. Smells, sounds, tastes, and visual cues are
perceived differently based on the general frames through which the consumer gives context to them.
For instance, Disney from music to selected smells throughout the parks and in their different hotels, to
strict guidelines on employees and characters, Disney has remarkably mastered sensory marketing and
branding.

Smell
Humans have approximately 1,000 types of odour receptor cells and it is estimated that we can detect
10,000 different odours. A research in 2004, showed that the sense of smell is one of our most
“emotional senses,” being highly connected to emotions and memories. In fact, different studies have
shown the power of ambient scent to motivate purchase decision and get customers to return to a
store.

Our sense of smell is highly connected to memory, nostalgia and emotions. Martin Lindstrom discusses
the use of smell in both purchase decision and branding extensively. Special cells in the nose detect
different chemicals in the air that breathe in. We also detect the flavors in food as air moves from our
mouth up into the back of the nasal cavity. Perfumes and fragrances attract a lot humans, so the
area/market/shop with good environment attract people. Customer will not go to the same place if he
smells it bad there. Or while buying perfume, food we smell it and then make decision.

A study in which two pairs of Nike shoes were placed in two separate rooms. They infused one room
with a slight floral scent. Overwhelmingly, by a margin of 84 percent, consumers preferred the shoes
displayed in the fragrant room. Consumers also estimated the value of the shoes inspected in the
scented room an average $10.33 higher than the pair in the unscented room.

Mirza Adil B-21621

University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

Vision
Much of our cerebral cortex is designed to see, and we have great visual ability. Sight begins when light
falls on the eyes, it begins the process of transmission. Once this visual information has reached the
cerebral cortex, it is processed by a variety of sensory perceptions of color, shape, and movement, and
that creates visual impressions in a non-invasive stimulus. Colors and lights attract living things a lot. If
the colors of the things are very soothing and calm, people automatically get attracted towards them.

Visual marketing is powerful. Whether color, photographs, video, or other visuals, our perception
influences actions as consumers. Not only that, the vision is such a powerful tool that it can awaken
those senses such as smell and touch, which cannot be produced online.

Studies have shown that people make a subconscious decision about a product within 90 seconds of
viewing it and 90 percent of that judgment is based on color alone. In daily life example, a person driving
car need to go somewhere, he will look forward on road and read symbols and boards to know the
location and then move towards it.

Hearing
Hair cells in the ear move in response to specific frequencies of sound. Sound waves that are collected
by our ears are converted into neural impulses, which are sent to the brain where they are integrated
with past experience and interpreted as the sounds we experience. The human ear is sensitive to a wide
range of sounds, from the small tick of a clock in a nearby room to the beats of a nightclub music group,
and we can detect very slight variations in sound.

If we talk about in decision making, let’s suppose a person is market to buy some speakers for him,
firstly he will hear the sound of the speakers. After that, he will make decision that if those speakers are
capable for him or not. In other words, most of decisions in life are done after listening to them.

Taste
Taste is important not only because it allows us to enjoy the food we eat, but, more importantly,
because it leads us to energy taken from foods. Many children are affluent for some reason as they are
reserved for living organisms to monitor their diet. Along with the sense of smell, taste helps us to
maintain a healthy appetite, detect potential dangers, and avoid eating toxic or contaminated food. Our
ability to taste begins at the taste receptors on the tongue. The tongue detects six different taste
sensations, known respectively as sweet, salty, sour, bitter and spicy.

Most of the food brands, when inaugurate, give free samples of food to random people to make them
choose different options and flavors. Baskin Robbins give small taste spoon of ice cream which a person
wants to buy to make him taste what he is buying is either likely or not.

Touch
Various receptors in our skin can detect different types of touch, including pressure and vibrations. The
sense of touch is essential to human development. The skin is the largest organ in the body. The skin

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University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

contains a variety of nerve endings, combinations of which respond to particular types of pressures and
temperatures. When you touch different parts of the body, you will find that some areas are more
ticklish, whereas other areas respond more to pain, cold, or heat.

For example, a person has to buy clothes for him, he will go to market and touch the fabric to judge the
quality then make decision. Touch helps to judge the physical thing.

Personality and Consumer Decision Process

Perception
Perception can have various meanings but in marketing, it is often described as a process by which a
consumer identifies, organizes, and interprets information to create meaning. A consumer will
selectively perceive what they will ultimately classify as their needs and wants.

Perception is a psychological variable involved in the decision-making process that is known to influence
consumer behavior. People who like, buy, or think about buying a product are more likely to see
advertising than those who are neutral in this product. Selective perception is divided into two types:
low level of perception, known as cognitive monitoring, and high level of perception, known as cognitive
protection. Perception can be built on learning, memory and expectations.

Motivation
Motivation is a psychological incentive or reason for doing something. Consumer behavior is strongly
influenced by many internal and external factors, like internal conditions (demographics, lifestyle,
personality motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings) and external influences (culture, sub-
culture, locality, royalty, ethnicity, family, social class, past experience reference groups, lifestyle, and
market mix factors).

Motivation is versatile enough that it spans multiple areas, including physiological, behavioral, cognitive,
and social. Motivation can be based on a person's basic need to reduce physical pain and increase
happiness, and it can include such needs as food and rest. However, inspiration is ultimately linked to
emotion.

Further there are two types of motivations which are Intrinsic Motivation (originate from oneself) and
Extrinsic Motivation (from other people).

Learning
Learning is known as a psychological variable that can significantly affect the purchase decision process
for consumers. Learning is the process of acquiring new, or modifying existing, knowledge, behaviors,
skills, values, or preferences. This process may involve synthesizing different types of information. The
ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines.

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University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

There are three main categories of learning theory: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.
Behaviorism focuses only on the objectively observable aspects of learning. Cognitive theories look
beyond behavior to explain brain-based learning. Constructivism views learning as a process in which
the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts.

Attitude
Attitude is a psychological variable that is known to affect the purchase decision process of consumers.
An attitude generally contains a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, event, activities,
ideas, or anything else in the environment. Positive attitude leads to make decision in the favor of
buying while negative attitude reject the product.

Lifestyle
Lifestyle can be broadly defined as the way a person lives. In sociology, a lifestyle typically reflects an
individual’s attitudes, values, or world view. A lifestyle is a means of forging a sense of self and to create
cultural symbols that resonate with personal identity.

Not all aspects of a lifestyle are voluntary. However, in consumer marketing, lifestyle is considered a
psychological variable known to influence the buyer decision process of consumers. The study of
consumer behavior can be applied to improving marketing strategies, shaping public policies, influencing
society, and improving consumer knowledge.

Mirza Adil B-21621

University of South Asia, Lahore Introduction to Psychology

References
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/marketing-principles-v1.0/s06-consumer-behavior-how-
people-m.html#:~:text=Consumers%20go%20through%20distinct%20buying,and%20(6)%20disposing
%20of%20the

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4671287/

https://spinsucks.com/marketing/sensory-marketing/

https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/introconsumerbehaviour/chapter/sensory-systems/

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-marketing/chapter/influences-of-personality-on-the-
consumer-decision-process/

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